03 Sep SHOFTIM: TEFILLAH WITH HEART AND WITH JOY

Reb Yosef Tzvi
Dushinsky zt’l told
the following mashal:
A hungry lion once
told a fox, “Give me
your heart.”
The wise fox knew
that if he gave his
heart, he would die,
but if he didn’t, he
would also die because
the lion would kill him
for rebelling against the jungle king.
The wise fox told the lion, “My heart is
precious to me, so I keep it at home. I will
rush home to bring it to you.”
Reb Dushinsky explained that when it is
time for davening, many people leave their
hearts at home. But without a heart, how can
one daven?
The following mashal is repeated in the
name of the Dubno Magid zt’l:
A king announced, “Whoever has a request
should come to my palace, and I will fulfill
his wish.”
Everyone praised the king for his generous

offer, but there was a problem. One person, a
nudnick, kept returning to the palace to speak
to the king, and it was always for no particular
reason. He bothered the king with nonsense.
The king appointed guards at the palace’s
front door to prevent this person from
entering. But the man entered through a side
entrance. The king set up guards at the side
entrances, too, but the palace had many
entryways, and despite the many guards, this
man always found a way to get inside.
A wise man saw what was happening and
said to the king, “Instead of placing guards at
all your doorways, appoint one guard to stand
in front of that person’s house, and he
shouldn’t let him leave his home. Certainly,
he won’t come to your palace.”
The nimshal is that the yetzer hara wants to
prevent people from davening properly, so he
sets up many guards to prevent them. In one
beis medresh, he arranges that people should
speak during the tefillah, which prevents
people from davening with kavanah. (And
even those who manage to daven with
kavanah, the tefillos, don’t go to heaven.
Because when there are people speaking
during the tefillah, this prevents everyone’s
tefillah from ascending to heaven.) In another
beis medresh, the yetzer hara encourages
people to daven so quickly that it’s almost
impossible to daven there with kavanah.

Similarly, the yetzer hara prevents
many people from davening with
kavanah. When someone nevertheless
desires to daven with kavanah, and he
decides to go to a kever of a tzaddik,
hoping that perhaps he can daven with
kavanah there, the yetzer hara will
make sure that he meets someone who
disturbs him over there or laughs at
him — and he won’t be able to daven
there either. In short, wherever one
goes to daven, the yetzer hara places a
guard to prevent him.
But then the yetzer hara becomes even
smarter. The yetzer hara says, “Why should I
set up so many guards? I will appoint one
guard; that is all I need to stop a person from
davening with kavanah. The guard will stand
before the person’s heart and prevent him
from opening his heart to Hashem, and then
he won’t be able to daven.
Everyone has this guard standing and
blocking his heart.
This brings us to the discussion of davening
with joy. Joy opens the heart for tefillah, and
sadness closes the heart.
The Gemara (Brachos 5:) tells us that Reb
Eliezer was ill, and Reb Yochanan came to
visit him. The room was dark, so Reb
Yochanan, who was extremely beautiful,
revealed his arm, and the room became
illuminated. In the now-lit room, he saw
that Reb Eliezer was crying. Reb
Yochanan asked him, “Are you crying
because you didn’t study as much Torah
as you wished you would? Behold Chazal
say, the one who studies a lot is equal to
the one who studied little, as long as their
intention is for Heaven. If you are crying
that you don’t have a lot of money, it isn’t
everyone who merits two tables (the table
of Torah and the table of wealth). And if
you are crying over children [who died in
your lifetime], behold, this is the bone of
my tenth son.”
Reb Eliezer told him, “I am crying over
this beauty that will be disintegrated in the
earth.” He was thinking about Reb
Yochanan’s beauty and that it would one
day be buried in the earth, bringing him to
tears. Reb Yochanan replied, “This is
certainly a reason to cry,” and they cried
together.
Reb Yochanan asked him, “Do you
appreciate it that you have yesurim?”
Reb Eliezer replied, “I don’t want them,
and I don’t want their reward.”
Reb Yochanan said, “Give me your
hand.” Reb Eliezer did so, and Reb
Yochanan healed him.
Why did Reb Yochanan’s beauty bring
Reb Yochanan and Reb Eliezer to cry?
The Maharsha explains that in the era of

the Beis HaMikdash, all Yidden were
beautiful. Reb Yochanan was the final
remnant of that beauty (see Bava Metzia 84.).
They were crying because Reb Yochanan’s
demise would represent the final stage of the
destruction of Yerushalayim.
We can explain “this beauty that will be
disintegrated in the earth,” alludes to the
beauty of tefillah when it is tainted and
covered over in the earth of atzvus, sadness.
Sadness very much ruins the tefillah.
Nevertheless, even a tefillah uttered with
sadness is precious to Hashem. Bilaam
revealed this truth when he said, “Who can
count the earth of Yaakov.” He was saying:
Even those tefillos that are tainted with earth,
wrapped in unhappiness and laziness, are
also very precious and accomplish so much
in heaven. Every tefillah, even the weakest
ones, are dear to Hashem.
However, when one merits saying a tefillah
with joy, it is much more potent, and it is far
more likely that his tefillos will be answered.
Reb Chaim Vital (introduction to Shaar
Hakavanos) writes, “It is forbidden to daven
with sadness, and if one does so, his soul
can’t receive the light that comes down from
Above during the tefillah. Only when one
says viduy and expresses his aveiros may he
feel broken, but during the rest of the tefillah,
sadness harms so much. He must daven with
humility and fear, but it should be with as
much joy as possible, like a slave who serves
his master with much joy. If he serves his
master with sadness, it will be disgusting for
his master. Almost all high levels, perfection,
and attaining ruach hakodesh depend on this
factor. Joy is needed when one davens and
when one performs mitzvos. The Gemara
says that Reb Zeira was very happy, and he
explained that it was because he was wearing
tefillin. Don’t consider this matter trivial
because [for serving Hashem with joy] the
reward will be very great.”
A keyword of the tefillah that will arouse us
to simchah is the word Atah, “ You.” The
Chofetz Chaim zt’l says: There is a machlokes
rishonim whether Baruch means “praise” or
“bless”, but all agree that Atah means You.
This is the greatest joy that we can speak to
Hashem directly. There is no joy greater than
that!